As you know, there’s been no shortage of news related to resin pricing over the last couple of months thanks to Hurricane Harvey. Now that November is here and some of the dust has settled, we thought it would be a good time to send out another update.
The proposed resin pricing increases of $.07/lb we mentioned last time have indeed gone through, with some producers even adding in an additional $.03/lb, for a total of $.10/lb since August.
To help understand why this has happened, let’s look at what The Plastics Exchange said in their most recent update:
Harvey’s impact on PE production was extreme, with many reactors shut for varying lengths, [and] operating rates only averaged 75% in Sept. Rapidly rising spot prices curtailed incremental exports, with less than 600 million lbs sent offshore, while domestic demand remained healthy. Together overall demand contributed to a massive 435 million lb upstream inventory drawdown, which was quite evident in tight Sept/Oct supplies.
Now that most petrochemical plants have come back online and supply issues seem to be easing, we hope this will be the last of the increases for a while.
As for lead times, we’re currently looking at a 3 to 4-week window. If you know you’ll be placing an order in the next month or two, please let us know as soon as you can so we can schedule accordingly. We always strive to meet 100% of all our due dates, but any advance notice you can give us would be much appreciated.
If you have any questions or comments about this update or would like to place an order, please send us an email or call us at (800) 272-2634. Thank you for your continued business, and we look forward to serving you.